Investing in Furniture
After Leaving the Nest

January 31, 2005 -- Four years ago, Dina Zarrella, 32, traded in the twin day bed she had used since childhood for a queen-size bed. She spent $1,000 on the new mattress, bed frame and head board, even though it made a big dent in her $34,000 entry-level annual salary.

Zarella had just completed a master's degree from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and was working as a community advocate for a nonprofit organization in Chicago. While the queen-sized bed was a tight squeeze for her studio apartment, "it was definitely a worthwhile investment," she says. "It made me feel like I was finally an adult because I had a real bed."

In August 2003, Zarrella took a job at a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., and moved to a one-bedroom apartment. Her bed fits comfortably there and she's currently saving up for another new piece of furniture.

For most recent graduates earning entry-level pay, buying quality furniture is a stretch.

That's why most go cheap. For example, Becky Novac, a 2004 Pennsylvania State University graduate, recently paid $300 for a sofa she found online. She earns around $30,000 annually as an assistant media planner at a New York advertising agency, commuting from a two-bedroom apartment in Hoboken, N.J., she shares with a roommate. The bargain-basement price came with a hitch: The sofa was in a box and required assembly. Building it "was kind of hard and took about two hours," she admits.

But low-cost furniture has more obvious drawbacks. Many are made of flimsy materials, warns Janna Paulson, residential-forum adviser at the International Interior Design Association in Austin, Texas. "I'd use them as a temporary fix. They won't last long," she warns.

High quality furniture, on the other hand, typically lasts longer and retains value. "Generally speaking, the higher the price, the better the furniture," says Karen Derian, an interior designer at The New Jersey Decorating Exchange in River Edge, N.J.

Your first pieces of quality furniture should be the ones you use most -- a sofa, bed and dining-room table, says Paulson. Everyone's budget differs, and there's no set rule of thumb on how much to spend when starting out. The good news is you don't need to buy everything at once. "I'd start off with one good piece and fill in the rest with inexpensive items," she says.

When choosing a style, stay away from fads, cautions Derian. "You're better off going conservative because traditional styles will always be in fashion, and they blend well together," she says.

You can distinguish trendy items from classics because furniture stores typically promote them with special sales and advertisements, says Paulson. They tend to feature bright colors or creative patterns that stand on their own. If you crave modern touches for your apartment, splurge on smaller items that are fashionable, she says. "Go nuts on accessories because you can replace them later if you tire of them."

Lights are among the most important accessories, adds Paulson. "It's a small investment that can go a long way toward making a space look complete." If your apartment already has overhead lighting, you may want to add table lamps. Floor lamps, essential in rooms with no overhead fixtures, emit more light, she says.

Before making any big purchases, take time to research your options, advises Paulson. "Shop around, surf the Internet and look in design magazines to become an educated consumer," she says.

On average, Paulson says quality upholstered sofas range in price from roughly $800 to $1,500, mattresses range from $300 to $400 and dining-room tables from $600 to $1,000.

If the items you like most are out of your price range, consider financing, suggests Paulson. "The first thing to look at is the interest rate," she says. "Fortunately, everybody is competitive now so you may be able to negotiate a monthly amount you can afford."

A year after graduating from Wake Forest University in 2002, Sara Wirsul financed a sofa and loveseat for her one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte, N.C. A senior analyst at Wachovia Corp., she took advantage of a credit-card promotion at a local furniture store that offered a zero-percent interest rate for up to one year on her $900 purchase. She paid the entire bill in monthly payments of about $75 before the year ended. She recommends financing as long as you can make payments on time. Otherwise, you'll likely be hit with high penalty fees.

Besides having a relatively lofty price tag, well-made furniture should have the following attributes:

1. Solid wood. Make sure that the wood in couches, tables or bed frames you select is solid and not a composite of wood shavings or particle board. "You either want solid wood or veneer over solid wood," says Derian. "Shavings and particle board will disintegrate over time."

2. Noncomposite fillings. Cushions made of shredded or glued materials disintegrate quickly, so don't buy sofas that include them, warns Derian. Polyurethane fill is durable but inexpensive, while spring down, a filling made of springs enclosed in a down casing, is slightly more expensive, she says.

3. In sofas, eight-way hand-tied springs. Quality sofas are constructed with these materials, says Derian. "When you put your hand under a sofa, you should feel the springs. They're critical for making a couch comfortable when sitting down and getting up," she explains. "Some companies use other materials but eight-way hand-tied spring construction is the industry's primary choice."

-- Sarah E. Needleman is associate editor at RealEstateJournal.com.

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